A little glimpse into the future while waiting for the next book coming with early 2022.


A happy new year to all of you and may the force be with you and the Covid half a planetary range away.


I

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Homo Excellis Foreword
'Number Twelve'


I

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Earth +102 XIII. Siberia local time March the 1rst 1911


I

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Somewhere in the fields south of Solvychegodsk, Russian Empire


I

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He woke up with a shudder.

There was a smell in the air: smoke, ham and something spicy.

He opened his eyes to see a man cooking at a campfire.

A strangely clothed man who looked up as soon as he stirred. He shot him a glance added to a sarcastic smile. He was fair skinned and blue eyed and to judge by his eyebrows had brown hair.

He sighed. It had never been certain that he would escape but he would have sworn that he would be able to run a few days more.

- So, you've caught up with me…

The smile became larger and the man shook his head.

- Not at all since I never chased you. I knew you would be here, and I just had to arrange a transportation opportunity to arrive here while you were sleeping. I'm a busy man so I try not to waste too much time.

The man's Russian was flawless and clearly upper class but with that cleanliness that showed that the language had been painstakingly learned and not inhaled with youth. His clothes didn't look like those rich Russians tended to wear while on an outdoor trip in Siberia but then most of those rich Russians wouldn't give a damn about him.

- I'm sorry to make you waste your time.

- Don't be, it has always been a pleasure to catch up with you.

Iosip couldn't help but frown. He would have remembered a man like that one. He always remembered people he hated.

- We have already met?

- In a manner of speaking, we did meet quite a lot of times. You are the twelfth Iosip Vissariovitch Dshugashvili I have the pleasure to meet. I must admit that contrary to Adolf your contemporary, dear tovarich in monstrosity, it's always a pleasure to have a lengthy chat with you. You are perhaps a lecherous trigger-happy monster but you are an educated and well-schooled monster. Till now it had always widened my outlooks to chat with you.

The man sighed heavily.

- I suppose even that will wear off with time.

- We've already met eleven times?

- Not you and me, said the man with a disparaging gesture. I met eleven other young Stalins before you.

Stalin, the man had said Stalin. Nobody knew he was Stalin. Stalin was the name he only used when dealing with comrade Lenin. And even within the Party Lenin was the only other person who knew who Stalin really was.

Who was this man?

- What are you speaking off?

The man nodded.

- You are right if we must have an intelligent little chat you need to know what I am and why I am here…

- You are the Czar's agent and you are here to get me back to Solvychegodsk.

- Not in the least. I'm nobody's agent and you're not going anywhere from here. This is your last resting place. Some time in the immediate future –depending totally on you and your reactions- I'll kill you and abandon your liveless body to the wolf pack that has been following you for the last four days.

He laughed once.

- I remember Stalin number four, I didn't kill him because he tried to jump me with the knife he had hidden in his boots, like you by the way. I only broke his left leg to show him my displeasure. I suppose the wolves got him because in that time flow he never again appeared in History.

The man's smile became predatory.

- And neither will you.

- If you are not the Czar's agent, why do you bother killing me?

- Because I pretend being a scientist whose hobby is the study of Timeflow Fluctuations!

- Timeflow Fluctuations? Is that even a science?

- It is a budding science, I will admit it with only me studying it, but I'm doing a great job at it, I think.

It hadn't escaped Iosip that the man just announced him that he was about to kill him. And if something was very certain for Iosip then it was that he wouldn't let anybody try to kill him without doing his very best to avoid such a fate.

He forced himself to stay very calm while his left hand was discreetly searching for his gun.

One second the man was holding the pan in his left hand; the next said hand was holding a weapon. His movement had been a blur.

Iosip's painfully obtained ancient American revolver was in the man's left hand.

- That what you are looking for?

He threw it and let it fall in front of Iosip.

- Don't waste my time more than necessary by jumping at the gun and trying to shoot at me. I, of course, emptied it! Should you be unreasonable, I'll break both your legs and skin your back to be very sure that even tiny predators get a try at you.

Iosip couldn't help but take the revolver. Slowly…

And indeed, it had been emptied.

- I could have killed you in your sleep but it would have been too easy on you. You deserve to know of what future I'm going to deprive you. It is a small revenge on the monsters I'm killing but it is rather satisfactory to see the frustration growing in my victim's eyes.

The man let himself express what was not really an expression of satisfaction.

- Well, most of them at least. Your buddy Adolf I just shoot in the head whenever I've a good occasion. He's such a moronic idiot you can't even imagine!

He let out another sigh.

- You can't have a smart conversation with him. He's just stuck within his fantasy world! And he splutters… All in all he's physically disgusting!

Iosip who had no idea about who the man was speaking about forced himself to stay focused. There would be an opening. There always was.

- And like all geniuses I've found out that I love to brag about my achievements. With a real preference to brag in front of my victims.

He sighed and shook his head.

- Yes, I know it is disappointing. It would have been better, for my image's sake, to be of the sullen non communicative genius type. I'm clearly not! I do need to speak about what I do. And I need to see the admiration –if possible, but frustration does it very well too- in somebody's eyes. And the people I'm about to kill are really the only ones I appreciate speaking to! I have already decided to kill them, so it is not really a problem if I get another reason to kill them, isn't it?

- You are crazy, you know that?

- Coming from a real specialist in the matter I take that as a compliment.

He pointed at Iosip's side. A box was lying there.

- Please have a look at the book I've brought you. It should be wonderfully enjoyable for one such as you. Very frustrating too, but that's part of my pleasure.

Iosip opened the case and found himself looking at a face he didn't recognize but that triggered something in him.

- That's you, by the way! Thirty years from now. When you will, would have been, whatever, officially Joseph Stalin, the father of all of the Peoples of Russia. The new mad Czar in everything but in name. And it's the official biography you would have ordered from some very scared friendly Soviet authors. Most of it is bullshit, of course, since even a mad man like you doesn't like to be portrayed as a monster, but you should be able to recognize a few of your early crimes even if your future self has convinced his cronies to misrepresented them as major heroic feats.

Iosip couldn't help but be amazed and fascinated by said book.

It was a book about him! And –he looked it up- it had been published in 1947.

- You come from the future?

- Not at all. Time travel is theorically possible but is not yet an engineering feature I've mastered. I have considered the problem! Still do. But no equation has jumped into my mind till now. In the present case, I just travel from one Universe to the other. I call them Timeflows. In mine the date is somewhen after 1850 and the Russian Empire still exists and is part of an alliance of Mighty Empires with the French Consulate, the British Empire, the Chinese Middle Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire…

He made a disparaging gesture.

- Which is of no importance at all for you in the now and here!

He pointed at the book and shrugged.

- Neither is this. What is important for the both of us is your present situation. And in the here and now I'm about to murder –I know it is a harsh world and that most people would sugarcoat the whole endeavor but I love to use the right words to define my actions whatever those actions are. Not at all like you, you'll note. So, I repeat: I'm about to kill my twelfth Iosip Vissariovith Stalin before he gets to grasp more power than he already has.

- Why are you doing that?

- As I already said: because I'm a scientist and I'm studying the different Timeflows I encounter. Or to be more adequate I study the results of the disruptions I cause.

- You are playing God!

The man laughed out aloud.

- Oh, how I like to speak with decently intelligent people. That is exactly what I do, indeed. But don't take it all wrong: it is not a game. I am not playing! It is very hard science, believe me! And as in all true sciences a leading scientist must experiment and compare results. And to get acceptable results I need to remake the same experiment quite a lot of times to know what will happen in the end. It's called statistical evidence in my world.

Iosip, still speed reading his biography, looked up.

- So, I'm a victim of my success.

- If you wish to consider it thus, you are right! You are one of the greatest mass murderers Human History has ever produced. That can indeed be qualified as a success. And because of what your are, taking you out of the time flow is certain to change things.

Iosip couldn't help but try to make a case.

- There are others…

- Indeed, there are! And even if it makes you look a little more insignificant, you are only one out of five. I already killed your greatest modern challenger at least twenty times. In fact, I kill him whenever I have an opportunity. I even killed him once while he was –in a very bad reenactment of Napoleon at Austerlitz- squeezing young boys' ears before sending them to their certain death in an already trashed Berlin. It was too late to really change things, but I really love to kill that monomaniacal arse-hole.

Here he shot Iosip a sarcastic smile.

- In that timeflow I didn't kill you. It was already too late to really get major changes into the timeframe. And since I knew that you wouldn't live more than ten years more, I abstained. But killing Adolf did change things since his heir accepted an immediate surrender.

- Do I know him?

- Not yet and thanks to me –I killed him a few hours ago- you never will. Without me, you would both be struggling for a few more years to become important men. You would have met and the very day of your meeting you'd have begun to work at killing each other in the most efficient way possible. He won the race of betrayal because his military staff was ready earlier. That was probably because, contrary to you, he won't have the habit to butcher his military elite every ten years just to remind everybody who's the real boss! And even if such an advice will never be of any help for you, I pretend that it is not a good idea when at war or while preparing a war to kill your best strategists. You are the epitome of a Paranoid overreacting fool, you know that? A real showcase of psychiatric dementia! Your brain would have been a marvelous exposition item…

Iosip didn't react, he had just found the Adolf the madman was speaking about, and he was engrossed in the chapter about how he; Joseph Stalin, single-handedly won the second world war.

- To come back to your initial question, there are three others I regularly push into oblivion. I butchered Ghengis Khan a score of times. Interesting man, that one. A real scholar with the cold blood of a rattle-snake. Mao Dze Dong –I hate that one, he's the most arrogant prick you can imagine- two dozen times and Timur the Lame half a dozen times. You are only one of my five favorite test subjects. There are others I kill from time to time when I have the opportunity -and the time- but within the "mass-murderer" pack you are my preferred talking partner. The others of my two main subjects are not as fun as you.

- You said "mass-murderer" pack as if there was another? You have another pack?

- Indeed, I have. There is the "Prophets and world religious leaders" pack, of course. Beside the mass-murderers they are those who have had the greatest influence on the worlds' histories. Even before I discovered the maths behind Universe hopping, I always wondered what would have happened without Zharatoustra, Buddha, Jesus and Mohamed? I did wonder for a long time and since nowadays I have the occasion, I do what has to be done to get them out of the equation.

- You've killed Jesus?

The man made a face.

- I admit that it would have been an awful perspective, wouldn't it? But happily, for me, I had no need to do it! He wasn't as effective as you would think when he was alive. It is after his death that his little sect took a new, more active, path towards power. So, my solutions are to get rid of the disciples. And since the Jewish Priesthood is always a great help in this matter and since they always succeed to push the Romans to do the killing, I, each time, quite efficiently succeed to get rid of Jesus' surviving disciples. I don't need to interfere very much. I just have to find where the so-called disciples are hiding. The Jews and the Romans don't need to be pushed heavily in the right direction to do the deeds. Sometimes, when I have the time, I kill Paul and Peter when I can get at them. It has happened that I did kill a few others of the bunch to look at the results. Twice I killed the whole sorry lot while they were huddling in a cave scared shitless in fear the Romans were looking for them.

He smiled at Iosip.

- But mostly I have them killed. It's not very difficult with my technical means to forge genuine Imperial Roman Edicts. So, the one ordering all accomplices of Jesus the King of the Jews to be beheaded ASAP wasn't very difficult to manufacture either.

He pointed at his bag.

- I have always one with me should I stumble on a Timeflow where it could come handy. Eradicating false religious beliefs is one of my favorite past-times.

- You are crazy…

- You are repeating yourself which, in my experience, is a sure sign for a man's approaching demise.

The man's tone of voice didn't show even a trace amount of humor and Iosip decided that it was time to shut up and concentrate on his –or perhaps no longer his- life story.

There were no allusions to the mass murders the man had alluded to but since it would have been he who would have dictated the book's content, he wasn't surprised about it at all. He wouldn't have bragged with that either. And he knew that he wouldn't have hesitated to have them committed in the first place. Mother Russia was not a kind country, and its people needed a firm hand at her helm. He had always known deep inside him that democracy wouldn't be a part of the communist heaven he and Lenin were building. The people were too easy to manipulate –or terrorize- to make the mistake to believe they could be trusted. The boss –any boss-, to stay in power needed to be even more ruthless than the current Czar was trying to be.

Had he been Czar there was one Iosip Vissariovitch who would have been dead for a very long time…

And this Iosip had no wish at all to die. Not now that he knew what his future was. The only thing he really needed was to get an opening and he would show to this so-called scientist what a real motivated revolutionary was able to do to a fool who believed himself protected by his knowledge.

But first he needed more time to be ready to jump at the coming opportunity.

- So, tell me about your science…

He couldn't not see the man's superior smile.

- I already killed you eleven times, my dear and believe me the only time you surrendered meekly was the one time I chopped your head off while you were sleeping at just this place! So, were I you, I wouldn't lose a lot of energy in preparing my last saving move! It won't save you.

- It's all the energy I've left. I'll do with it what I want…

- Indeed, you will and so will I, believe me!

The man's smile was back.

- But I appreciate that you are willing to listen to my story about my preferred pet project.

- Timeflow Fluctuations.

- Indeed, Timeflow Fluctuations or the art of Provoked History Changes whose only specialist is facing you.

- Have you already seen results?

- Indeed, I have and since you are willing to use your last living moments to listen to me, I'll make you the favor to describe what happened in the years following your and Lenin's demises.

- Lenin's demise? You are going to kill comrade Lenin?

- I already did it! A bullet went through his head from a few miles away yesterday. He never even knew he was going to die. I spoke with him twice and since I prefer not to encounter the man. He's such a bloody hypocrite and he has demonstrated that he is a coward of the worst kind. Both times I have chosen to let him know what was going to happen to him, he spent his last minutes begging with me. Once even on his knees. He's a perhaps a gifted demagogue, a shrewd politician and a skilled strategist but he is also a thief and a con artist who has no scruples to rob anybody, even the poor. And, believe me I've seen him die twice at point blank; he is not worth the bullet I used this morning to get this world rid of a major nuisance.

- What about getting the world rid of common aristocratic dictators? Why do you only strike at the People?

- Let's be very clear here: I don't give a damn how Human rulers are behaving and if you had stayed a common criminal who has, early in his life, understood that he could use his lying tongue to get other people to do his biddings, I wouldn't even have looked you up. But, as the book shows, you've found yourself quite a niche. And, to be very clear, you are not the People, you are not Russia's soul and, over everything else you are not the Communist's Party's embodiment. You are just a very dangerous paranoid Sociopath who will try anything, to get and stay in power. Anything!

The man, once more, pointed at the book.

- And to come back to your question, petty dictators and royal spendthrifts don't interest me. They don't really influence history. It is bad luck for those who live under their rule, but it never lasts. I needed to deal with real game changers. That's why, to do my little research, I selected those whose actions were very visible in History. In order to notice more easily the consequences of their disappearance within the time flow. You and your buddies Hitler, Mao, Timur and Genghis are sociopathic mass murderers of the highest magnitude. That is the only reason I decide to deal with you more or less personally.

Here the man shook his head.

- Not because I have any ethical prejudice against your action. In my opinion, Mankind is not worth its survival, you know. You are perhaps the embodiment of evil, but all man and woman is deep down a monster like you and in the right circumstances that evil will grow and take over. You are my test subjects because your death opens some easily observable windows of opportunity. And let me remind you that both Timur and Genghis –and even Mao- were members of their former ruling class. So, know that I did not choose you because of your social origins but because I estimate that the probability that History will be able to replace somebody like you in the given time window with another same minded monster is very slim!

Here he made a face.

- Those who, like you order hundreds of thousands of people to be executed are, thank the Gods, a very small minority and getting others like them in the right position to jockey for the seat of power is not a very easy feat. To be frank, it never happened in the timeflows I cleaned from your murderous presence. Without you and Lenin, the Russian Revolution either fails completely –but still very bloodily- or induces a lot of little changes that reform Russia and change the Russian people's life. In two occurrences Russia even refused to enter the First World War and that was a real game changer in that time-flow.

He shrugged and his eyes focused on Iosip.

- Some Historians estimate that you are responsible for the death of sixty million people. Some say less and some say more but on one thing they all agree: those millions of dead people are direct results of decisions you made singlehandedly. You were –would be, whatever- an absolute ruler. All the Reins of Power of the largest country in the world were in your hands. But your reign of terror smothered –or slaughtered- all opposition and all smart advice that you could have gotten vanished smothered by fear. And you didn't ever get them. When advisers are so terrorized by what could happen to them should their master consider what they advised as hiding the hint of a criticism, they chose wisely for them and unwisely for your country to give you the advises they thought you wanted.

The man pointed an accusing finger at Iosip.

- So, there is no doubt that all those deadths are on you. With you out of the picture a whole new timeflow is coming into existence. What is going to happen? How will the time flow adjust? Will there even be an adjustment? It is the most fascinating scientific experiment anyone has ever launched…

- You are like me playing with the lives of people…

The man didn't try to deny anything.

- Of course, I do but I do it for scientific reasons while you did –would do- it to secure your hold on your Nation's power base. And, by eliminating you –and your other buddies in other time flows- I have the secret hope to save a lot more people than the number that is going to die because of my intervention.

- It still could backfire and bring a lot more sorrow than what normal History would have brought.

Once more the man nodded while stirring the food in the pan.

- That's the reason why I killed you a dozen times! To see what happens if I change the same factor in very similar time flows. And I try to introduce little variations to see what happens with not totally similar triggering events.

- How so?

- Well, I already killed you twice before this moment here but that's because I was in a hurry. This very moment is the last point in your timeline where I have the possibility to get at you while you are alone and without guards surrounding you. Once the Police gets at you tomorrow evening you will be under a much stricter surveillance schedule. And next time you launch an evasion you'll be in company of some of your buddies.

He shook his head.

- No, this is the right place to get you with a chance to have a little chat. After today you will always have people surrounding you. Not that I would have any difficulties to get rid of your bodyguards but by killing more people than you I increase the risk to unbalance the whole timeflow even more. You need to disappear there's no doubt there but who knows what important role one of your guards could play once you are out of the picture? He could be the one to replace you and under his rule the Soviet Union could have followed –be following- a totally different path, who knows? It is fascinating, don't you agree?

- It would certainly be was it not my life you were considering to end.

He pointed at the book.

- Have you tried to just inform me and see what happens with the time flow once it is done?

This time the man laughed out loudly.

- There's always that same moment in our little chats where you try to enter a negotiation. Like the other times it won't happen, but I must admit that it is the first time you had the gall to propose not only to let you live but to give you the means to change the future… As I already said your mind is worth every second I waste in your company.

- Let me use said mind to improve Mankind's fate…

- You've already had that opportunity on numerous time flows and each time you did the same or worse and you used your smart, if damaged, mind to transform the life of millions of people into a living Hell. So, no I won't! I don't hate Mankind enough to ever let you walk away alive from one of our encounters…

It was the moment Iosip decided that it was now or never.

He jumped up and launched himself at the sitting relaxed man.

He was rewarded with a panful of sizzling hams and oil in his face followed by dozen of hits to his face and his tummy.

A few seconds after having made his attempt he was lying on his back, his face literally ablaze and the man booted foot crushing his windpipe.

- I crossed the time flows to kill you, Iosip Vissariovitch Djugashvili and I took the time to explain that this is our twelfth encounter. I even described you your first knife attempt. And still you reacted in the exact same manner as the other times. Do you really believe that you still had a chance to surprise me? The first time you were lucky, and you landed a knife stroke in my chest, and I still remember how painful it is to be stabbed in the heart. I didn't like it at all, and I must confess that I was more or less vengeful and overzealous in my rage when I finally finished you off by caving in your face with my boot. It wasn't pretty but it was satisfying. That's why I know that there is no chance that you will ever change. You are a monster and you'll be a monster the whole of your life. Life that ends here and now! This time I won't lose my temper. You are after all what you are, and I have no ambition to change you or anyone else.

Through the blur his eyes were still able to give him of his environment Iosip saw the flash of a knife.

It was the last thing he ever saw because the knife itself entered his eye, crushed the bone behind it and cut into his brain with enough strength to crush both his parietal and occipital skull bones. He was dead immediately.


I

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Lionel Darcy de Saumur looked a last time at Stalin the XIIth's lifeless body.

I could have dealt with him a lot easier, whispered Speedy in his mind.

I know but I do like to kill ugly pieces of shit whenever I have the opportunity and I do like even more to have Stalin aware of what is about to happen to him while he knows that I'm depriving him of one of the most illustrious fame a man ever had. I love to see the frustration and the rage in his eyes.

Legally he is still innocent of the crimes for which you have condemned him.

At this period of his life, it is proven that he has already killed a score of people for criminal or political reasons. Had he not been so crafty killing innocent witnesses he would already have been hanged. It's a circuitous way to deal justice for sure but it is a satisfying one. At least it is for me.

He was shattered to hear that Lenin was dead. It touched him more than the fact that he was about to die.

No surprise there, first, he was, till the end, sure that he would survive and second, Lenin and Stalin had a real working relation. Stalin really worshipped Lenin and he was ready to do what had to be done to get Lenin whatever he needed. He was Lenin's personal hitman and Lenin was his mentor and protector. You know like me that Stalin even robbed banks to get Lenin what he needed to live high on the hog while he was exiled in London and Geneva. And he knew exactly what Lenin was doing with the funds the Party was transferring. No surprise there, they were buddies in crime and after 1917 Lenin would have paid Stalin back with interests.

Speaking of Lenin's death: it is stirring up the moods in Moscow

It always does and as usual the Party will accuse the Czar to have organized the shooting. The Czar will, of course, deny but nobody will believe him, and Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev will, as usual, launch their bid to take over the party.

Here Lionel coudnt't help laughing aloud.

I'm not at all curious about who's going to win this time.

The odds are, as usual, on Trotzky. He has the best strategic mind. He knows how to outmaneuver the others.

You are probably right but it will, as usual, be bloody but stay internal for a few days. Afterwards there will be more riots and more people will die.

Speedy who quite liked intellectual challenges sent out a mental shrug.

Who knows, the moderates will perhaps, for once, even be successful in forcing the Czar to reform the country? With luck, it will be enough to smother the next revolution?

Lionel shook his head.

It never happened until now, why should it happen this time?

Because Trotsky and his bloody buddies just died?

You interfered?

I did… We've seen ten times what has happened when those killers are free to go on. And it never was a real success. This time I think it's time to clear the slate once and for all of all those communist Patriots. You know as well as I do that these men are amongst the worst Mankind has ever produced. Time to get rid of the whole bunch.

Lionel shook his head but didn't really protest. It had been a long time he had known Speedy's wish. He wouldn't have done it but nevertheless it would be fascinating to look at the results.

Since we are doing a main intervention, added Speedy, shouldn't we try to stop the incoming war? It would be in accordance with those alleged research you brag about every time we deal with one of your subjects.

My research are not alleged! It is very true! But I'm afraid to tamper with WWI. That World War has too many triggering factors to risk a shot at it. It would be very difficult to find the ones that really could stop it.

We could at least try, couldn't we? I have found the Serbians who are plotting to kill the Austrian Crown Prince. I could deal with them as I have dealt with the leaders of the Russian Communist party. Let them have a little soul ripping and let it be. We would see what replacement the Time Flow would use to trigger the war. Or, with luck, we could avoid the whole awful mess.

Since when are Nightcrawlers war opponents?

I'm not a war opponent; I like wars when they are reasonably small. A few thousand people dying are all I need to feed. No need to have millions dying when it can be avoided.

Lionel let out a long sigh. He would have to agree since Speedy was clearly adamant in this matter.

Do it, but once you've done all those interferences, we'll have to put a more important surveillance effort in place.

We still have a few means

Indeed, but they are shrinking daily. And what about the time, my friend? You know how I hate not being able to follow the upholding events. There are so many different timeflows in which we interfere. If I'm able to launch that survey, I'm sure it will cost us a lot of our spare time.

The time where you will no longer be able to hide what you are doing from the rest of our world is fast arriving, Lionel. Thanks to your family and Napoleon we got off lightly till now, but each new prospect is taking its toll on our resources. It will be more difficult with each new plan we put on track. We have begun to set the stage for too many different time flows to not begin to make mistakes. It becomes vital to get more help. I know you; you won't take it lightly should you fail because you didn't have enough supporting help.

The world is not ready for my discovery.

That's bullshit and you know it. What I really believe is that you are not ready to confess that you have doctored the results of your scientific breakthrough to keep the real discovery from the rest of Humanity.

That's perhaps partially true but you can't deny that Mankind wasn't –and still isn't in my opinion- ready to understand the real importance of my discovery. And by the way nobody has ever stopped anyone from going back and redoing the whole calculations. The mistake is very easy to find and even easier to correct.

For a genius like you

For any genius with the right knowledge!

You did deliberately add seven pages of fake calculations just to hide the misleading ones you've introduced. It will demand years for a team of specialists to even understand that the fake calculations are there only to smoke the readers in.

Those calculations aren't fake, my friend, they are totally genuine as is the rest of my work. Should they research a way to move faster than light those are what they need to get at it. But I will admit that, placed where I put them, they are not of any use to understand the whole width of the news Physics I discovered. It is smoke and mirrors but since it is done with real calculations it will be more hindrance than help for those who want to understand the whole range of those new physical laws. And I will admit that the little part of my calculations that would have opened the portals to anyone else is especially not to be found.

I don't have neither the education nor the mind to understand any of it, but I know you and I know you are hiding from your responsibilities.

Lionel sighed and finally stood up.

He looked a last time at the body of what would have been the most paranoid mass murderer of this time flow and began to walk away from the camp site.

You are right and wrong.

I cannot be both and you know it. I'm right but you believe to have good reasons to be cowardly following your usual path of secrecy.

I have good reasons! Nobody needs to know, and I do not trust any other creature with my secrets. The Time Flow Earths are mine to explore and roam. I don't want anyone else to disrupt my experiences.

I can understand that but remember that even if we are probably the most dangerous creatures of the world we are living on, it does not mean that nothing can get at us. We have found worlds where the Atlantean continent hadn't been destroyed by Kunshantu's mad research and those worlds have the knowledge and the technology to easily take us out. The only reason they haven't is because we succeeded in being hidden.

I wouldn't say easily. They have means but they are so full of themselves they don't even imagine what is really possible for someone with a real working mind.

You're like them: arrogant and full of yourself, Lionel, you should listen to your words once in a while! You may believe yourself better, stronger and smarter than every other Human Being you still basically are one of them i.e. a meek Human being with its inherent needs and lots of frailties. On my side of the veil even the lowliest Demon could kill you within seconds and the fact that you are so much smarter than him wouldn't help in the least against his concentrated hunger and his extraordinary hunting skills.

Lionel could feel his friend's frustration.

Doing all this alone without any backup is foolish and will someday land us both in deep shit.

Who would you care to trust?

Go to your usual allies. Those who, notwithstanding your systematic arrogant and lofty behavior do still show concern and understanding, would be, in my opinion a good start.

I'll think about it…

Don't take your time, Lionel. If you really want to go on on the current scale, we will need help. I'm sure Mom would be very useful

If we tell her, we'll have to tell Betty

Let's not stop with Betty. Talk with the whole Black Council and get the Twelve, too. Tell them that we are reaching a point where we will soon be overwhelmed. They have the means to be a great and efficient help and they have proven that they understand the whole concept of secrecy. And they are all family. Family is important


I

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